Wild West Online don't need no stinking Kickstarter

With a PR email that literally says "Red Dead PC Competitor" in the subject line, Wild West Online is doubling down on, well, being a Red Dead competitor. The tactic of leaking a Red Dead Redemption-like image onto a GTA V forum under the pretense that it could be an image of Red Dead Redemption 2 is also a little bit dirty pool, as far as I'm concerned. But hey, stealth marketing, am I right?

And it worked. The stealth marketing worked. The Wild West Online website got 200,000 hits, and ginned up enough interest that WWO's outside investors decided to pump more money into the game's development. As such, WWO is skipping the Kickstarter idea, and also skipping any Steam Early Access ideas, too. Now flush with investor cash, developer 612 Games will now focus on a full retail launch.

I've got to admit, the stuff they want to do looks great on paper. A lot of successful MMOs in the past, however, have wanted to do these things and they haven't happened. So we'll see. Development on WWO started a year ago, and it looks like WWO is trying to beat the band to Red Dead Redemption 2's Fall 2017 launch window. I mean, WWO has to. Because speed-to-market is its biggest play right now. RDR 2 hasn't confirmed PC yet, so if RDR 2 ends up being console-only, then WWO wins. If RDR 2 ends up confirming PC, well, good luck, 612 Games. If you're taking on an 800-pound gorilla, well.

There are several more pie-in-the-sky details now on Wild West Online's official page. It reads like a Kickstarter, but that's obviously what they were planning on doing before backing away from Kickstarter and Steam Early Access. There's PvP kills, PvE adventures, bounties, heists, and camping. On the horizon will be home building, train robberies, night missions, mountainous regions (to double the map size), and an Old Mexico region (to bump up the map size another 50 percent).

612 Games is, no doubt, downing some Advil after a night of popping champagne purchased with angel investor monies. But they're also nose to the grindstone now, I'm sure. Only a few months to make themselves a viable "Red Dead PC competitor," as they're touting, so they don't simply turn into a poor man's Red Dead Redemption 2. Ooh lookie, new screenshots:

Wild West Online From 612 Games Raises Funding to Launch in 2017

Action Online Multiplayer Game to Bypass Kickstarter and Steam Early Access

On Its Way to Full Release

Los Angeles – May 17, 2017 – 612 Games announces today that the recently revealed online multiplayer game Wild West Online will launch this year on PC. Thanks to an overwhelming response to the game’s reveal, which included thousands of emails and over 200,000 site visits, Wild West Online received additional funding from the game’s initial investors in order to fully launch in 2017.

Thanks to this further backing the development team will no longer need to raise additional support via a Kickstarter campaign and has also decided to bypass Steam Early Access to focus on a full launch. Those interested in learning more about the game and participating in Alpha and Closed Beta this summer can visit http://www.playwwo.com/.

In addition Wild West Online will now release with its previous stretch goals in place at launch, including female characters, rich role-playing and social activities such as card games, and localization. After launch 612 Games will release additional content and gameplay features as part of several expansions in order to continue delivering the ultimate Wild West experience on PC.

“The community’s response to Wild West Online is something we never imagined and thanks to it we’re able to fully develop a robust Western experience for PC,” said Stephan Bugaj, Chief Creative Officer of 612 Games. “We’ve been fortunate enough to have our initial investors step up and provide additional funding to make the game we wanted, without having to raise money via crowdfunding. Westerns are lacking on PC so we can’t wait to release the game to the public.”

Wild West Online is an open-world action-based, online multiplayer game in which players are free to explore and interact within a thrilling Wild West setting. Based on their decisions and actions, players can become a lawman, an outlaw or a pioneer exploring the Western Frontier. The game features a bevy of content, including world exploration, resource gathering, PvP combat, PvE game missions, treasure hunts and much more.

Take a first look at Wild West Online’s combat with brand new screenshots in the press kit: http://bit.ly/2qtgUtJ